So just when I started to think I’d had enough of these superhero movies, Marvel makes me a fan again with Civil War. Batman vs who? Dawn of what? The memories of that drab DC hero mashup have been mostly washed away. Thank you Marvel for restoring my faith in the genre.

This is easily the most polished movie in the Captain America trilogy, and it’s better than The Age of Ultron. It’s an entertaining two and a half hours of superhero fun with a decent plot that gives all its character’s development time, and properly establishes motives and actions on either side of an argument about regulating superheroes.

That’s not to say this is some mindless action adventure that tacks on topical content to appease the critics, like Winter Soldier did. This isn’t just left versus right, or some analogy for the Tea Party taking on evil boogeymen socialists. Civil War is more complex, and takes the time to properly justify the actions taken on either side of the movie’s core story. There is no wrong side here, and if you pick one, you’re not making a mistake. You’ll just either prefer Iron Man over Captain America, or Ant-Man over Spider-man, and at the end of the day, everyone will really enjoy watching them battle.

Is it as good as The Avengers? No. The Civil War story is too complex, and has too much baggage and setup to do in regards to the upcoming Black Panther and Spider-Man movies to be a truly great piece of escapist entertainment. There’s no big hero moment, or memorable fanfare, and certainly nothing that compares to watching the Hulk beat the snot out of Loki.

Movie Prep:

This is a great film, but it won’t make much sense unless you’ve seen the other Captain America and Avengers movies. You’ll also want to stick around after the credits for two extra pieces of Marvel setup.

Best Moment:

It’s in the trailer. The scene where Bucky and Captain America are battling Iron Man. A nice single shot as the two super soldiers take turns beating Iron Man with the Captain’s shield.